Returning player - Tanking questions (low level)

LemonWatcher

Hello everyone, I've been off ESO for a while but now I've returned and want to be a tank in dungeons which means I have a few questions.

The last time I played tank I was put in pretty crazy dungeons like I'd do the normal fungal grotto/spindle but then I was put in a new dungeon (don't recall the name) with all my teammates having a crazy high amount of champion points with me being only level 12 or whatever, the enemies would eat through me and we'd never finish unless the team pushed through without me. Is there a way I can be useful as a tank in those dungeons? or a way to get the daily without having to do those specific dungeons, or perhaps the way it works has changed and I won't be useless?

Should I be holding block throughout every boss fight or only when it does the telegraphed attacks?

As a tank should I be raising HP or Stamina?

DK was by far the best tank class when I last played, has that changed at all?

I appreciate any replies!

VaranisArano

Hello and welcome back, fellow tank!

We've got a thread going called Tanking University, where a bunch of experienced tanks are breaking down the basics of the role for players who want to tank. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/377221/tanking-university/p1

But I'll try to address your questions here.

Dungeon choice: With Clockwork City, ZOS redesigned the group finder so that the level locks on dungeons better reflect their difficulty. Normal dungeons still unlock progressively, but now all Normal II dungeons and all DLC dungeons will not unlock until you reach level 45. This means that leveling characters should find themselves in content that they can handle. So, good news, you won't find yourself in the really hard DLC dungeons while you are leveling anymore. For Veteran Difficulty dungeons, the DLC Dungeons, Crypts of Hearts II, and City of Ash II will unlock once you've reached CP 160, for about the same reason.

Blocking: Block on the telegraphed attacks for sure. Otherwise, you should have enough health/resistances to be able to do a little DPS in between the telegraphed attacks. On normal dungeons, you can probably survive failing to block those attacks (I'll miss blocks thanks to lag all the time), but its good practice because on Vet difficulty most of those telegraphed attacks will one-shot you if not blocked.

Attributes: Health in the 30-35K range unless you are going for a max health build (those hit 60-70k health because they use skills that scale off health). Physical and Spell Resistances cap out around 32-33k for 50% damage reduction. Enough stamina to block, interrupt, etc. I main a MagDK tank who has no additional points in stamina, but I use sturdy trait gear and reduce block cost enchantments to help with my stamina pool. I have about ten points in health and the rest in magicka, but I also run Ebon Armory/Plague Doctor for gear which has nice health buffs.

Dragonknights are still excellent, since we've got a variety of armor, group buffs, and crowd control options. Wardens tend to make very good tanks, with some crowd control and excellent off-healing capabilities. Any class can be a good tank if they know how to be an effective tank, but DKs and Wardens are the main two.

Hope that helps! Wander over by the Tanking University thread for a lot more info and opinions from other tanks.

Turelus

I believe most tanks (especially DK tanks) focus on mostly health for their builds.

You can check a few of the guide sites out there, I would recommend Woeler and Alcast for strong end game tanking builds/guides. Deltia has also just returned to the game and started putting out builds again so I am not sure what he has.

Sadly that's as much use as I can be, but I'm sure others will chime in and give you some advice.

LemonWatcher

@Turelus - Hi thank you for the reply, those websites are great!

@VaranisArano - Hello, you've answered everything perfectly, appreciate it a lot! So glad to hear about the dungeon fixes. I'm even more hyped to get back into it now!

Thanks again both of you.

kringled_1

I'm running 60 points in stamina and 4 in health, but I can still hit 33.8k health with a food buff and my particular tank heavy gear sets on. Stamina for blocking/skills is part of it, but so is being able to go do non-group dungeon stuff by switching gear and skills and not having to reassign points. Igneous shields is the biggest skill I can think of on a DK that scales with health.